Intel 965 based mATX boards are coming!

D

D-Three

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 26, 2006
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Like I mentioned last week in this topic, I noticed that Gigabyte had released a full ATX motherboard based on the Intel G965 chipset. So I made the assumption that Intel had finished the revision of the G965 chipset and I hoped this meant more boards would appear. My hope turned into excitement when I saw an Intel full ATX motherboard with G965 chipset on newegg.com three days ago. And today two more Intel boards with this chipset appeared on newegg. One of them is the Intel DG965SS, a mATX board!
I don't care about the integrated graphics of the G965 but since most of the mATX boards are going to be based on that chip and because there's a big chance the Intel boards don't support a Vdimm above 1.8V and timings below 5-5-5, I really hope more manufacturers will soon introduce their 965-based mATX boards.
And with me, I know a lot of you are hoping the same ;) So I wanted to share this with you! ;) If somebody spots another mATX board, please let it know. The waiting is killing me. Actually I was stupid enough to sell my A64 setup more then a month ago. :D I just want my "normal" system back asap.
 
D-Three said:
because there's a big chance the Intel boards don't support a Vdimm above 1.8V and timings below 5-5-5,
Click to expand...
It's actually a fact
This little board had everything going for it, except it don't cut it in the ram timing department.
http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/dg965ot/index.htm

I'm actually anxious to see how the ati boards turn out based on the RD600.

Look out for Lastly we have the mATX GA-965GM-S2 which is equipped with the G965 and ICH8 combination. This board will support Core 2 and existing LGA775 processors with 533/800/1066 MHz front-side buses as well as DDR2-533/667/800. Expansion slot capabilities are quite generous with one PCI Express x16 and two PCI slots. Six SATA ports provide plenty of I/O connectivity, though finding an mATX that can accommodate six hard drives will be a little challenging. Firewire is provided by a Texas Instruments controller while Gigabit Ethernet is powered by the same Marvell 8053 controller used by the three full ATX boards. Lastly the Realtek ALC883 high definition audio codec is integrated for eight channels of audio. This is a shame as the GA-965GM-S2 had the specifications and layout to make a great home theater PC motherboard, except the lack of Dolby Digital Live encoding for those that want multi-channel HTPC gaming with a single audio cable.
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/1672_large_965GM-S2.jpg

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It's got everything except 2x PCI Express x16 slots for the freaks who need it all.
Who want's to SLI ? I think it's a 6 month wonder . . .
Yery soon they will have single slot solutions and who wants 1000w power supply ?
Or an external one for your DX!0 card? - I'm not fitting the powerbill.

and you're forgetting the point of SFF.
 
Dillusion :
The Unofficial List of Good Core 2 Duo mATX Motherboards (Overclocking and Not)


Core 2 Duo S775 (i865/965/946):
intel DQ965GF/OT/SS*
ECS G965T-M *
MSI G965M-DH *
Biostar 945G Micro 775SE *
Biostar I945G-M7 *
Biostar 945GZ Micro 775 *
Foxconn G9657MA-8EKRS2 *
Aopen i965GM-HFL *
DFI CFX1150/G *
MSI Q965M *
Gigabyte GA-946ZM-S2 *
Gigabyte GA-965GM-S2 *
ASUS P5B-VM *
ASrock 775Twins-HDTV Rev.2 *
ASrock 775i65G ****
 
I'm not a big fan of ATi chipsets. The usb and sata perfomance of their SB450 south bridge wasn't very good. So their new chipsets will have to prove them again before I will consider ATi :D Just my opinion. I lik the nVidia nForce chipsets. I never had problems with my nF2 and nF4 based mobo's. But since I haven't found Conroe compatible mobo's with an nForce chipset and I don't now when nVidia will release their new chipsets, the GA-965GM-S2 is number one on my wish-list. I'm not interested in SLI but I want a good SFF-system. I also like the idea of the Abit iL-90MV. I've always been a fan of Abit but this board is not an option because the layout isn't good for my SG01 and it hasn't got a 16x PCI-e slot. That board is great for a HTPC though!

And I know those lists of mATX boards. ;) But those are boards that have been anounced like more then two months ago but I think only 2 are available right now.
 
Actually, I like that iL-90MV !
It would be great to stick in a T7200 / T7400 Merom in next project.
Interesting way of setting the fan.
Do you think it'd fit in a lc19
:eek:
 
I bit the bullet a bit ago and just modded my X-Qpack to take ATX boards... using an Asus P5W-DH Deluxe with great results with my E6600 :). Plus, I now have Kentsfield and CrossFire (not to mention SLI with hacked drivers) support. I'm more than happy with this... sure, it was a bit more work, but it paid off in spades.
 
was it an easy mod ?
If I had the case already, i'd try the mod.
But as I'm buying brand new this time i'll probably end up with a sugo.
 
IMO anything that doesnt look like it came from the factory that way doesnt look satisfactory, and I have yet to see a SFF to ATX mod that looks like a case that I would personally use...

Not to discourage anyone, im just picky i guess. Lets see what this month brings us with G965's...
 
Dillusion said:
Or a PCi-E X1 X1300SE
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Oh, yeah that one too.

I've got one sitting next to me (the LC19) and it's damn hard trying to pick parts that will work in it correctly, Core2Duo isn't even an option right now due to there not being enough mobos suitable for it.
 
The Intel board mentioned above can support a single 7950 2 in 1 graphics card can't it? Surely that is enough for even most gamers.
 
GoldenTiger said:
I bit the bullet a bit ago and just modded my X-Qpack to take ATX boards... using an Asus P5W-DH Deluxe with great results with my E6600 :). Plus, I now have Kentsfield and CrossFire (not to mention SLI with hacked drivers) support. I'm more than happy with this... sure, it was a bit more work, but it paid off in spades.
Click to expand...
IMO you might as well go with a decent mid tower.
 
Vengance_01 said:
IMO you might as well go with a decent mid tower.
Click to expand...


Not if I want the small form factor still ;)? EVERYTHING fits inside the case completely, side panels sealed and all :D.
 
Dillusion said:
IMO anything that doesnt look like it came from the factory that way doesnt look satisfactory, and I have yet to see a SFF to ATX mod that looks like a case that I would personally use...

Not to discourage anyone, im just picky i guess. Lets see what this month brings us with G965's...
Click to expand...


Unless you wouldn't use a stock-looking Q-pack with the IO panel on the side instead of the front, I fail to see this logic :). My alteration of the original mod looks great and preserved all the bays/hard drive space fully other than the floppy drive. Obviously it is modified, but you wouldn't know it unless you knew it wasn't supposed to be that way.
 
satchi said:
Photos :eek:
Click to expand...


No digital camera :(... but look around the forums, others have done the same basic concept with fine results :). Even the very original mod done looked good in the end.

My E6600 in this Q-Pack is running happily on the P5W-DH Deluxe @ 3.5ghz fully stable:
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=118054

I love SFF, but I didn't like the disadvantages of an mATX motherboard... now I have the best of both worlds thanks to some work :)! It was my first mod *EVER* on a computer case, to boot.
 
...or you could be uber-cool like moi and have a full-sized ATX board screwed down and hanging out the left side! :D Hey, it works...

I would have done that mod as well, but decided to hack up the case for watercooling instead. I thought it looked great, but it also put some serious limitations on aircooling.

I am okay running ghetto style until a real mATX board comes along.
 
The GA-965GM-S2 has appeared ont the website of Gigabyte. No manual yet.
Does anybody know if Abit is going to release a mATX C2D board? I like their NF-M2 nView (for AM2) but I've heard the C2D compatible nForce chips aren't goint to perform very wel. I think I'll order the Gigabyte board.
 
The manual is on the site now.

Hopefully their RAID controller is a hardware one, so you can boot from it using linux.
 
After reading the manual, the BIOS has absolutly no overlocking settings.
You need too use their software utility too overclock it in windows.

So, another crap motherboard imo then.
Next too Windows I also run Linux. There is no such too for linux.
I just want those settings in the BIOS.
 
So far the g965 doesn't look to good.

I think the next chipset is probably the best bet for MATX.
 
satchi said:
I gave up on any worthy C2D mATX motherboards 'till next year.
Click to expand...

Yeah, looks like it.
Either it's a motherboard with no PCI lock, decent voltage selections and a useless RAID controller, or it's a motherboard where you have to use a windows tool too overlock (shiver).

Back in the old days (I suddenly feel very old) the motherboards were so much better.
Seems like nowadays you either have to beg or live with it...
 
In a way I'm now appreciating the mATX AMD side even more with the 61xx chipset boards. I'm delaying 3 builds now for a decent C2D mATX board.
 
Lol :) In the "old days" there was no PCI-lock, no "decent" voltage selections, etc. In those days, your soldering iron was your best friend ;) My last ATX board was a DFI nF4 Ultra-D and we're spoiled with boards like that :D
Besides, the SFF-market is rather new. A few years ago, most enthusiast users only wanted full ATX boards. And even with the growing popularity of SFF, most mATX users will never overclock. That's why almost all mATX boards come with integrated graphics. And since the G965 doesn't overclock very well...
Since I cannot and don't want to wait much longer for a new desktop, I think I'll buy a cheap MB (like the ConRoe945G-DVI), some cheap memory (in most cases, a C2D performs better with DDR2 533 instead of DDR2 667) and a E6400 for the meantime.
[LYL]Homer said:
In a way I'm now appreciating the mATX AMD side even more with the 61xx chipset boards. I'm delaying 3 builds now for a decent C2D mATX board.
Click to expand...
Yep, I also considered buying an AM2 board (like the Abit NF-M2 nView) but the X2 5000+ is hard to find here... :(
 
I am sure the G965 overclocks well, it's just the bios of the boards they put it on that blows cornholios.
 
Nope, it seems most G965-based boards (ATX and mATX) don't get higher than +/- 350 MHz FSB. Not bad but P965 does a better job.
 
I'd happily settle for 350mhz.. the problem is we can't get above 270 mhz with the ASUS P5B-VM w/965G AND can't use DDR2-800 RAM :=/

It makes for a piece of crap.

:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Aqua said:
I'd happily settle for 350mhz.. the problem is we can't get above 270 mhz with the ASUS P5B-VM w/965G AND can't use DDR2-800 RAM :=/

It makes for a piece of crap.

:mad: :mad: :mad:
Click to expand...

I've just recently decided to make a conroe sff box. I was looking into the p5b-vm, but do they not support ANY ddr2-800 sticks? Is it due to the memory limitaitons? Is the gigabyte or even intel Q965 any better in this regard?
 
I thought I should just come in and say that the integrated graphics on the G965 are terrible. I had hopes for their "unified pipeline" architecture but it sucked really bad. Just thought I would say that (in case people didn't read up on the X3000).
 
Yggdrasil said:
I've just recently decided to make a conroe sff box. I was looking into the p5b-vm, but do they not support ANY ddr2-800 sticks? Is it due to the memory limitaitons? Is the gigabyte or even intel Q965 any better in this regard?
Click to expand...

Go to crucial. There you will use the online memory selector to find the answers that you seek for the P5B-VM
 
Yggdrasil said:
I've just recently decided to make a conroe sff box. I was looking into the p5b-vm, but do they not support ANY ddr2-800 sticks? Is it due to the memory limitaitons? Is the gigabyte or even intel Q965 any better in this regard?
Click to expand...

They will support DDR2-800 memory, but it needs to be good memory that can post at 1.8v. I was able to post with 1 stick of 512 TeamGroup 667 3-3-3-8, but not two. Then I bumped voltage +.2v and then both posted.
 
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